Tuesday, December 4, 2012

If you love chicken cordon bleu because it’s “fancy,” and
you serve it primarily to impress dinner guests with your culinary skills, then
this video is really not for you. However, if you love chicken cordon bleu
because of its winning flavor combination of chicken, ham, and Gruyere cheese, then
stick around.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the classic preparation, and will
do my version one of these days, but for all that pounding, stuffing, rolling, pinning, breading, frying, and baking…I can
deliver the same basic flavor and texture profile with significantly less time
and effort.

By the way, while most consider this a French recipe, the
word on the street is that this actually originated in Switzerland. That
doesn’t really have any bearing on the recipe, but since I can’t remember ever
giving the Swiss a hard time here, I thought I’d take this opportunity to ask,
what’s up with those pocketknives? You really need one tool that can both kill
a squirrel and puck nose hairs? Seems a little much.

Anyway, it’s been a while since I posted a sandwich video,
and this, as the name would indicate, was certainly a blue ribbon winner. It
made for a perfect lunch, but throw a poached egg on top, and you’ve got a
stellar brunch item; or cut these up into quarters, and serve as finger food
for the next big game. I hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 portions:*Note: topping can be made days ahead and baked whenever.

Hmmm, looks and sounds amazing. And Gruyere is my favorite cheese too besides S'brinz. Lovely. Yet another reason why you are my absolute favorite Chef ever. I will have to try this sometime very soon. Quick question of interest because I noticed every time you said it. Is the 'bleu' part generally pronounced as 'blue' in the US or is that a personal quirk of yours?

Chef John, you rule... doing your ultimate roast chicken (again) in our new Weber kettle this Saturday for friends... reckon I already know what's for Sunday lunch after watching this! Also, every time you grate fresh nutmeg into a recipe, I die a little more inside. Can't find whole nutmeg anywhere in Australia for love or money :(

Wow. I don't make chicken cordon blu all that often because it is a pain to do all the steps... I was at the point where I was going to just do a chirashi sushi/7 layer dip approach and just layer ingredients into a casserole. Your sandwiches look awesome!

I tweeted this already, but to elaborate, I made a turkey version of this using my early Christmas turkey leftovers, and it was fantastic! I had to use cheddar instead of gruyere/swiss because certain family members are swiss averse, so I also omitted the nutmeg. Now I'm regretting sending the rest of my leftovers home with my mom!

Hi Chef,Made this Sunday and it came out great. These reheated quite nicely as well. I reheated two of them Tuesday night in a 350° F oven for 20 min. in a glass baking dish covered with foil (next time I would probably go for 25 min.), and let them rest for 5 min. The bread re-crisped on the outside and the topping was warmed through.

Hi Chef John.. ooooh.. can't wait to make this in the morning.. and have it ready for my daughter who will drop in between classes. I see the ingredients list but no written instructions. Is this correct?

Hi Chef John.. I'm thinking panko for the breadcrumbs.. what do you think?? Made the meatloaf.. yummm! and the banana bread.. Triple EeYummm!! thank-you for sharing your talent with us amateurs. You give me hope in the kitchen. I used to do everything by America's Test Kitchen but I'm two-timing with you because I love how you make everything so simple. Bless you.

Hi Chef John! Could you write the quantities in grams in the future? Us fans in Europe are having trouble converting cups of ham... You are simply the best and funniest chef (After my dad, that is. Sorry!)

I just made this, and it turned out fantastic! The smokiness of the ham adds a nice touch. Oh, and the cayenne of course. I really enjoy watching your videos, and though this was my first attempt at recreating one of your recipes, I will definitely try out more. Thank you Chef John!